Sento, ah, more!
Posted, by some odd coincidence, to a David Daniels discussion board:
“Remember, a Baroque opera has the same structure as a hard-core porn film: several minutes of boring dialogue/recitative, and then ten-minute sessions/arias where the stars show off their assets and climax in a spectacular ‘cadenza’.”
“I stand by my statement that there are Kwiecien fans in Poland — SOMEONE picked him to represent the country at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition. (He made Finalist.) What part of that do you object to?”
By now, I’m sure. I’m just saying that IME Polish opera fans (and even more, critics) don’t much respect homegrown talent until it’s been acclaimed abroad. The CW is, if they sing very much in Poland, they can’t be very good… I think that’s a dumb attitude, but it’s there.
winpal, I too remember Russell O. and Alfred D. Alfred D. did a master class on Baroque music at the music school I attended (Univ of Colo.) and his voice type was a complete novelty. At one point he assured the attendees that he was not a castri by bring his son on stage. Now his voice type is almost common–how time changes things.
rdbellais said…
I know this is not going to make me popular- but let me go ahead and say it. I think singing count-tenor is a cop-out and doesn’t require an abundance of skill and techniqe beyond the acquisition of the style needed for the repertoire.
G: You are more than welcome to dislike whatever sounds because they don’t appeal to you. But this is really unacceptably ignorant. Do you really think that any less body is involved in creating a fully supported countertenor sound? Do you honestly think any less air is needed for me to sing a soprano high C than it is for a female singer? Do you think that we just go onstage and phone it in on half a cord?
I read this comment yesterday and have spent the last half a day walking away from the computer screen trying not to “say something I’ll regret.” But in not responding, I find that I am, as rdbellais, says, “cop”ing out, something I’ve never done. The only cop-out of countertenor singing is, in my opinion, walking away from one’s true voice because of the certainty that there are misinformed audience members (or fellow singers) who “won’t like us”. In fact, choosing to Cop-out and sing countertenor was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, and each time I body-up to sing, it continues to be some of the hardest work I’ve ever done– not only because it’s singing, and singing of any kind is hard f*ing work, but because I know that there are still people out there who will negate what I am trying to offer as “fake”, “false”, “unnatural”, or who will not even bother to review it, but simply dismiss it because, “I don’t like countertenors.”
I hope the readers of this list will pardon me for this excessive sidebar.
gregory, you just go forward and have a stupendous career. I love your spirit!
I sympathize with Gregory’s comments. Not being a singer of any kind I can only imagine the work it takes to sing and to learn to sing. And that’s why I appreciate it so when someone does it well.
As much as I hate to have opera companies take my money and give me singers not up to their roles, I’m just as well very sympathetic when a singer falters.
That’s why I hope Heppner recoups and makes the Parsifals; and Fleming pulls herself together and decides what kind of artist she wants to be; etc.. I would even enjoy having Studer back in top form, in spite of all the alienation generated by Marschallin.
MF — I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the attitude towards Polish singers who sing in Poland — not long ago, it was the attitude of Americans towards American singers who only sang in America, and Aussies towards Aussies etc. etc. But every Polish opera lover I meet seems to know all about Mariusz — there was a fan club of Poles at the stage door after the last Don Pasquale with red and white carnations to throw and a carpet to unroll before him (thinking of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, I was a little worried by that), and the Polish opera web sites are full of articles, reviews, interviews about him. So I think he’s the alternate tradition: he represents Poland to the world, and among Polish opera lovers appears to be the national hero.
I know you live there — do you hang out with Polish opera lovers? Ask them.
Hans Lick
I don’t hang out with opera lovers except on line. I’m just out of it, which is maybe why I’d never heard of him.
I’m still confident in saying he became appreciated by Polish fans primarily after obtaining success elsewhere (in which case, yes, he’ll be a national hero in opera terms).